Arizona ammo business creates anti-drone ammunition for U.S. military
Full interview: Arizona ammunition company creates new projectile option to counter battlefield drones
An idea born right here in Arizona is now set to help American soldiers on the battlefield. Drone Round Defense and their groundbreaking ammunition is currently part of the fourth-largest ammunition manufacturer in the country.
PHOENIX - An idea born in Arizona is now set to help American soldiers on the battlefield.
The Drone Round Defense team is currently part of the fourth-largest ammunition manufacturer in the country. Within the last year, they have developed a product they believe could change modern warfare.
What they're saying:
"There are solutions," Drone Round Defense co-founder Connor Schnepf said. "We've gotta move fast. We've gotta be competitive. We've gotta give these guys what they need to win."
Drone Round Defense founders Connor Schnepf and Justin Lawrence say they were already working in the defense space when they started hearing about a demand for counter-drone technology from contacts in the U.S. military.
"We have a drone problem and right now we're using shotguns, and they're not really working, so it kind of sparked the idea with one of our other business partners, and he was like, 'Hey we make ammo, let's make a rifle cartridge that almost simulates a shotgun that you can use in a regular battle rifle and shoot down drones,'" Schnepf said.
The duo, along with business partners across the country, including Freedom Munitions in Idaho, worked to design and manufacture the ammo.
"It's a multi-projectile, so there's more than one projectile," Drone Round Defense co-founder Justin Lawrence said. "This variant in my hand here has five different projectiles, so it's essentially five bullets coming out of one trigger pull."
Arizona company makes anti-drone ammo
An Arizona ammunition startup has developed specialized multi-projectile rifle cartridges to help U.S. troops shoot down enemy drones. FOX 10's Nicole Krasean has the details.
Dig deeper:
This solution is aiming for efficiency in battle.
"They don't have to learn and train on a new weapons system," Schnepf said. "They don't have to use a special optic. They don't have to change anything on their standard battle rifle to use this, they just have to have a magazine on their kit or two magazines, and now it's just a magazine swap, and they have a more effective fighting chance against a drone."
Drone Round's partnership with the military recently received a huge boost.
"What was proposed out was a sole source contract by the Marine Corps, which was really, really awesome, that was pushed out a few days ago," Schnepf said.
The pair is honored to be part of a bigger goal to fight enemy unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and bring soldiers back home safe.
"Defense is a crazy game of cat and mouse and UAS has been ahead for as long as UAS has been out and now defense is ahead with products like drone round, it's really cool," Lawrence said.
What's next:
The team plans to continue evolving their products to meet the ever-changing needs of American troops. It is important to note these anti-drone rounds are not available to the public.